Friends gotta stick together
by Switchblaze
Summary: This is the story of 4 survivors who try to live through the zombie apocalypse. They meet other interesting survivors along the way, but it seems that not everyone can be trusted... Rated T for blood
1. Chapter 1: Sick new world

**Hey! This is my first fanfic! I don't own left 4 dead or the characters, except those I invented obviously. I retyped this fanfic because the old one was confusing. I really tried to improve it, so please try to enjoy and review!**

**Friends gotta stick together:**

**Prologue**

"It's been 3 weeks since the infection took over…three weeks and almost all modern humanity have been reduced to mindless raging zombies."

"It's like being stuck in math's class, only this doesn't end or have breaks…" Wade's voice cut into Chris's monologue.

Chris couldn't help but laugh. "And who do you suppose our 'Math's teacher' is?"

"Probably some ugly faced, crappy dressed, toothless idiot infected person."

"Why toothless?"

"Eh, I just feel like fighting a toothless zombie would be less stressful and complicated than our current victims." Wade smiled at his best friend, who was laughing rather loudly.

That's the one thing Chris didn't hate about this zombie apocalypse. Hanging out with your best friend all day, especially when he can joke about everything, isn't exactly hellish.

Wade flashed his white teeth in an amused grin as an infected ran at them. He walked faster, opening his arms like he was going to hug the infected man. Then suddenly his leg flew upwards, his steel pointed boot connected with the man's crotch. The man bent forwards and let out a fairly close to human scream, but was cut short as a 9mm bullet penetrated his skull.

Chris flinched at the brutality and the brains splattering at Wade's feet.

"He's gonna hafta clean that up…I'm not doing it." Wade stated seriously and stepped over the body

"That was a little sick, dude." Chris commented as they walked on. They were walking in a street, littered with abandoned vehicles. People tend to be terrible drivers when their brains swell and they start craving living flesh.

"Sorry pall. I forget sometimes-…"

"That they are human beings?" Chris cut in.

"_Used_ to be human beings, Chris. Used to be."

"Fine, they use to be human beings. I'm just saying, don't joke about the dead, ok man? It freaks me out." Chris took the shotgun he had strapped to his back and loaded it.

"Yea…" Wade sounded like he hadn't even been listening to what Chris said. He wiped his left hand on his jeans leg and took his katana in both hands. They came to a halt and waited for the seven infected that had heard the survivors approach and was now sprinting hungrily at them.

Chris fired his shotgun and took down three infected before they were close enough for Wade to step in. Wade slashed open an infected's belly and used his momentum to turn and roundhouse kick a second infected in the chest. Wade was pretty agile and had a considerably muscled body. His hair was long, hanging over his ears.

Chris stepped closer and swung his fist, lifting in infected off the ground and sent it through the air, onto a car's roof. He was big, with a near body builder build and wide shoulders. His brown hair was cut close to his head and his fringe was combed upward in a wave like pattern.

Less than 5 minutes later they were standing outside a coffee shop, staring at the red steel door that seemed pretty securely fastened.

"Should we knock?" Wade tilted his head to the side and gently tapped his katana on the toe of his boot.

Chris stepped towards the door and pulled the handle. He wasn't surprised when he felt it was locked. He reached his hand through the small window in the door and with some effort managed to lift the steel bar across the door, unlocking it.

As he swung the door open he heard shuffling inside and stepped back, lifting his shotgun.

"Wait for it to step outside, I don't wanna spend the night with some dead dude lying on the floor." Wade made sense and Chris lightly whistled the tune to _Live and let die_ from Guns and Roses.

They heard a snarl and an infected woman sprinted out, aiming for Wade. She was stopped when she ran into his held out katana and stopped only when the handle of the sword hit her chest. The blade went through her heart, so she didn't even get to groan her disappointment.

"She must've been bitten before she got to the saferoom…" Chris stared at the woman Wade had gingerly dropped before he walked into the saferoom. She had blond hair and what used to be a pair of very pale blue eyes. She had a frozen snarl on her once pretty face. Chris felt sick just imagining how quickly the change from scared girl to vicious infected must've been.

But then, there's a lot in this new world that made him feel sick. He shuddered as he stepped into the saferoom and closed the steel door behind him.

**And done. Hope you liked it. I think this is a major upgrade from the previous chapter one. And again, please leave a review!**


	2. Chapter 2: This is what I want

**Hey all. Here's chapter two. I don't own left 4 dead or its characters, except for Chris and Wade.**

**I completely retyped this chapter and scrapped the previous one. I decided reading bout Wade's parents would be depressing and kind of useless to the rest of the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter 2:**

**This is what I "want".**

"I was going to start this story by telling you how we got into this whole mess. And I'm still going to do that, except I decided to leave out some parts, like us having to kill Wade's parents right after they turned..." Chris held the voice recorder in his right hand, in front of his mouth. He sat on a table, with his back against the saferoom wall.

The saferoom was pretty basic. The coffee shop tables had been piled in front of the windows, leaving very little useable furniture in the room.

"…The infection started about a month ago, I'm not sure where exactly. There were rapports on the news about people getting sick, and then reacting very violently to their doctors in the hospitals. The virus symptoms involved, swelling of the brain, which for some reason lead to animalistic rage and a sudden craving for human flesh."

"And a very casual disregard for dental hygiene and a lack of manners. Don't forget those two very important social aspects." Wade's voice cut in again.

Chris switched of the voice recorder. "You're kind of ruining this story, man."

"Chris, I know this would make an awesome documentary or real life drama or whatever, but just who's gonna listen to that when you're done with it?" Wade put his boots back on, after he had just finished cleaning all the blood of off them.

Chris shrugged, "Anyone who is still alive when this is all over." The truth was Chris just needed something to keep him busy, something aside from loading weapons and getting ready for the next kill.

"So…basically you're gonna make _me_ listen that?"

Chris laughed, "Ooh yea, I'm gonna duct tape this recorder to your head and make you listen it over and over."

"Then you'd better start singing on that thing, 'cus I don't respond well to normal boring-voiced documentaries."

"It's not like you're going to get to choose whether you listen it or not, man." Chris flexed his biceps and they both started laughing.

Wade threw Chris an energy bar he'd found in one of the cupboards of the shop. "You're going to need that if you wanna make it through today. Looks like we might be passing a mall and I need some new body spray."

"I could really go for a new shirt. These things rip way too easily." Chris poked a finger through a rip on the chest of the shirt.

"Please, were not good enough friends to start walking around nude around each other. You should get a bunch of new clothes."

They left the safe room laughing and joking. It was a good way to start the day, it kept their morale high.

"We're going to waste a lot of hours in here…" Chris spoke as he and Wade stared at the massive mall while standing just outside the entrance. It really was a big mall, it had close to 300 hundred stores, with underground parking.

"If we get caught in that place when its dark out, I vote we go camp out in a furniture store. I really wanna try out their waterbeds." Wade said, while grinning.

"If you're OK with us not sharing a bed, then sure pall, we can camp out in a furniture store."

The store looked even bigger from the inside. It had glass panels in the roof to let sunlight in, so it wasn't as dark as they expected it would be.

"Right then, let's go find a hardware store first. That would be our best chance of finding more weapons." Chris spoke and Wade nodded. No use arguing about a decent idea.

They kept their eyes open for any other supplies they might need, both alert for sounds too, because if a hoard of infected catch them in here, they'd be cornered and unable to put up much of a fight.

Chris heard the sound first, mostly because Wade had started humming _Welcome to the black parade _by My chemical romance and Chris hadn't lost focus like Wade does when he's around something musical.

There it was again. It sounding like crying and it was coming from a clothes store nearby. The shop sign had been torn down, but it looked like the place sold casual clothes to teens mostly.

"Wade, you hear that?" Chris asked and Wade stopped humming. Eventually he nodded.

"Let's go check it out, maybe it something fun like a witch." Wade cracked his neck and drew his sword from the scabbard on his back.

Chris made sure his shotgun was loaded and the two friends neared the shop stealthily.

As they neared they began stepping away from each other, so they'd end up standing on either side to the entrance of the shop. When they each reached their side, Chris looked at Wade. Wade was smiling an excited smile and his green eyes had an amused glisten to them. Chris got worried when Wade got this excited about killing. Wade got reckless and careless when he got this excited.

Chris nodded and Wade slowly pushed the door open before stepping in with Chris right next to him.

"Please help…" The girl almost sobbed, staring at them through teary eyes.

Chris's mouth hung open and he'd lowered the shotgun to his side. She looked his age, maybe a year younger. She had long, smooth brown hair and big brown eyes.

"Whussup?" Wade had his sword pointed at her, but talked like they were meeting at school.

"My friend's been bitten. Please…" She couldn't finish and started walking to the back of the store.

Chris and Wade followed, both having opposite reactions. Chris couldn't believe that they met another survivor, an attractive one at that. Wade looked like he was disappointed and kicked the clothes that were littered over the floor as they walked to the back.

The girl led them through a door, into a big storage room, although there wasn't much stored in it at the moment.

Chris saw two other people as they walked in. One was a blond haired girl with dark blue eyes, also looking Chris's age. The other was a man, maybe 60 years old. He had short graying, black hair and an unshaven face.

"He's been bitten…" The brown haired girl spoke softly, holding back tears fairly well.

"I don't think we can really help…" Chris admitted after a few moments of silence.

"We know there's no cure. That's why I want to be shot, before I turn into one of those…things." The old man spoke, he's voice was weak and he lifted his arm so they could see the tooth marks on his forearm. "Boys, I know I'm finished, so I would really appreciate it if one of you would…"

Chris nodded, "We understand. Do you need a moment to say goodbye?"

"We said goodbye before you came along, so…" The blond said sadly, but refused to look the two friends in the eyes.

"Are you sure about this?" Wade spoke and stepped further into the room.

The old man nodded, "This is what I want…"

Chris sighted and stepped forward. He decided to use his pistol, he didn't need to use the shotgun on this man.

The brown haired girl watched him move closer to the old man. She licked her lips, but stopped when she looked at Wade. He had moved a little to the side, like he wanted to watch Chris shoot the old man. She suddenly felt uneasy, something wasn't right…

The blond haired girl moved so she stood next to Chris and wiped something from her eye.

Chris lifted the gun slowly and aimed at the old man's head. He hated this. He didn't want to shoot him. Why couldn't they just leave the old man to turn infected? But it wouldn't be right, he might kill some other survivors passing through here.

His finger started tightening on the trigger when the blond girl interrupted, "Stop! Please stop!"

Chris exhaled a breath he'd subconsciously been holding in and looked at her.

She hesitated a moment, "I'll do it…" and she held out her hand for the gun.

Chris hesitated, but then started handing the gun over to her. Before she could take it, the roar of a single gunshot filled the storage room.

She froze. For the first time since the two guys had entered the saferoom she showed some actual emotion on her face, and her face was frozen in a look of horror and shock.

The brown haired girl's eyes were wide open in shock too.

Chris even turned a little pale and stared at the gun in his hand. Did he just shoot the old man? He didn't feel the gun recoil. His finger isn't near the trigger.

The old man looked the most shocked of all of them. He slowly looked down at his chest, where a blood stain was forming right where his heart should be. He didn't even say anything, just dropped back and lay on his back on the crates. Dead…

**End of chapter 2.**

**I hope you all liked it. I think it's a big upgrade from reading some half written piece on Wade's parents dying. Please read and review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Canned dinner

**Welcome back! This is chapter 3, it took me two weeks to type it, and hopefully I corrected all the spelling and grammar errors. I don't have a definite idea of how this chapter should go, but I know which direction I'm aiming for, so I'll wing it and let's see how that turns out.**

**Chapter 3:**

"You…You shot him…" The blond haired girl looked like she was going to faint, but suddenly she lunged at Wade, screaming and crying at the same time.

He grabbed her wrists, before she could dig her nails into his eyes and held her hands just far away enough and let her squirm while blocking her kicks with his knees.

The brown haired girl was still too shocked to move and kept staring at the old man's body. "H-he…he…" She didn't even know what to say and her knees just buckled. Now from where she was sitting on the floor she could only see the old man's legs hanging down the crate.

Chris recovered from his shock and looked at the pistol Wade had dropped when the blond attacked him. It was for the best wasn't it? Rather have Wade shoot the old guy than have the girl have to live with that guilt.

"You bastard!" Blondie kept squirming for a few more minutes, in which Wade just silently watched her face, and her friend just sat there, staring at the old man.

Chris slowly walked over to the brunette and kneeled down beside her, so there faces were almost level. "What's your name?"

The brunette didn't even look at him. "It's Laura." She was still in shock.

"Laura, I'm sorry about what just happened…but could you calm down your friend? Wade was only trying to help." Chris kept his voice soft and gentle.

Laura nodded and let Chris take her hand and help her up. She walked over to her blond friend, who was now just standing there, breathing hard and shooting Wade a death glare. She put her hands on the blond's shoulders. "Alice." She just said the girl's name and nodded to Wade, who was still holding Alice's wrists above their heads.

Alice turned around and hugged Laura. Wade stood there, awkwardly staring at the girls hugging, until Chris motioned him over with his hand.

Chris motioned towards the old man with his head and Wade nodded, understanding. They started looking around the storage room, until Wade found a white bed sheet and Chris helped him cover up the old man's body with it.

The guys did this in silence, while the girls were just hugging each other. To Chris and Wade it as just a dead man now. He was infected. It was better to be shot now than have someone else brutally do it, later.

Eventually Wade and Chris were staring at each other, Chris was trying to ask what they should do. Wade nodded and opened his arms for a hug. Chris shook his head and pointed to the girls. Wade turned so his body was facing the girls, but he was staring at Chris like he was asking "You think I should hug them?"  
Chris shook his head again and tried to look serious. He was losing his temper and Wade noticed. Wade lowered his arms and cleared his throat, "I think you two could use some cooked food. How does that sound?" Wade's voice sounded loud in the silence of the storage room.

"Are you saying you have cooked food?" The blond, Alice, asked.

"Not yet, but if we can find a working stove, me and Chris could whip something up." Wade was smiling, looking more comfortable already.

The girls both nodded at the guys and Chris led them outside the shop back into the mall hallway.

* * *

Chris kept his eyes open for a place that would provide an efficient cooking appliance. The girls walked just a little behind him, both of them were still a little shaky. Wade walked right next to the shop windows on the left, staring inside each one.

Chris guessed it was still too soon to ask the girls any questions; he'd have to wait until after they've eaten something.

"I see a Chinese place up ahead!" Again Wade's voice cut into the silence, just like it did in the storage room earlier.

"What makes a Chinese place so special?" The brunette, Laura, asked.

"Chinese restaurants, especially places that make sushi, have the best knives and melee weapons." Chris smiled. He remembered of course that Wade's katana sword came from a Chinese restaurant they had crashed in on rainy night.

"So you guys have been around quite a bit?" Laura asked again, looking at Wade and then deciding she'd rather keep her gaze on Chris.

"We don't easily stay at one place for more than 2 nights at a time." Chris stated.

"Infected tend to find you if you stay on one place for long enough. Maybe it's our body spray…" Wade lingered at a window where they had some jeans and other clothes on display, for a moment, before moving on again.

* * *

"It's not much, but it'll get the food warm." Chris adjusted the stove's setting so they could heat up a pot, while Wade was cutting open cans of spaghetti and meatballs.

The girls Laura was rummaging through cupboards looking for anything else they may find useful.

Alice sat at the table, with her chin resting on her hands. She looked really bored.

"I'm so glad all the decent food is either stolen or rotten. Otherwise we would've had to learn to cook too, Chris." Wade commented while dumping the sluggish contents of the cans into the pot.

Laura and Alice both visibly cringed at the almost sliming looking food as it fell into the pot. Wade noticed and started laughing.

"I take it those cans weren't kept in a very cool place for the past few weeks." Laura stated while giving up on searching the cupboards.

"When your dodging infected every day, you don't realise try to carry a fridge or cool bag with you. And this should still be fine! Once we heat it up, you won't even notice any weird tastes."

"And the few worms you find in it will just be extra protein anyway." Wade looked almost excited.

"Gross!" Laura yelled and Alice shot him a dirty look, which he just shrugged off.

"Now it's our turn for some questions." Chris turned around and leaned against the kitchen counter with his back, so he could look at the girls. "Your clothes are still nice and clean looking, not any smudges. Either you were staying in this mall for a long time, or you changed clothes a day or two ago. Which is it?"

"We arrived here four days ago and that's when we changed our clothes." Laura answered without hesitation.

Chris nodded and asked his next question, "Where were you before that?"

"We walked from safe room to safe room, just like you." Laura again answered again without hesitation.

"And it's only been the three of you this whole time? You haven't met other survivors or heard of a safer place where people are gathering?"

"It's only been us three," Laura hesitated, before going on "but we did hear of a place where survivors could go."

"Where?" Chris ignored the way Laura had quickly glanced at Alice.

"It's at a hotel. Some CEDA officer and his soldiers converted it into a suitable haven from the infected city."

"But he won't just let anyone in there for free. You have to earn your place." Alice looked at Wade who was stirring the food in the pot. The sword on his back gleamed, still new looking.

"Then that's where we'll be heading." Chris decided. "You girls can either come with us, or after tonight you keep going in whatever direction you were going."

"Food's ready…" Wade stated and with their future momentarily forgotten, the survivors gathered to eat.

**End of Chapter 3**

**I hope you all liked it. I really had to work to get it finished before this week was over. Anyway, please leave a review, tell me if you like it. Suggest an OC or funny scene or whatever you'd maybe like me to work in in the next or later chapters. And have a great week! I'll try to update every 2 or 3 weeks, but no promises.**


	4. Chapter 4: Getting along

**Hello everyone! Took me long enough, I'd bore you with some excuse…but I didn't prepare anything :P. Sorry.**

**One of my friends was kind of enough to say the new direction I'm taking the story sucks. He ALSO complained because I don't thank them for the ideas I used in the old version. So… I'd like to thank my friends for letting me base my OCs off of them. If a zombie apocalypse ever does strike, I'd totally consider not leaving all of you behind until I'm sure you can't shoot me in my back while I run away.**

**Anyway, I hope you're all doing well. This chapter goes on in the mall, I tried to make the conversations between the characters not suck too much, but I'll let you decide if I succeeded. Read and review!**

**Chapter 4: **

"It's all fake. All of it." Wade stated bluntly.

"Of course it is! How can you know THAT'S fake, but you think Batman is real?" Alice yelled.

"Because Superman is a made up character that does things that can't possibly be realistic! Batman is _real_ all the way."

"Batman isn't real!" Alice shoved Wade playfully.

"Let me ask you something. Have you ever seen Batman?" Wade's eyes grew wide at her, like he was telling her a ghost story.

"No!" Alice smiled, like she's won.

"Then how can you be sure he doesn't exist, if you've never seen him before?" Wade wagged his finger at her, like he was talking to a small child.

Alice stared shocked at him. He looked like he was being deadly serious. She looked at Laura who was leaning against Chris, leaning against a wall. They couldn't stand up from laughter.

"That makes no sense!" She didn't know what else to say.

"And yet, we both know I must be right." Wade winked at her. "No come on. Tell me I'm right and you're very sorry."

"No!" Alice folded her arms over her chest.

Wade bumped into her softly. "Admitting you were wrong, is the first step to boosting my ego."

"Is Wade always like that?" Laura asked Chris who was still chuckling beside her.

"Yea, he doesn't take much seriously…It's a good trait to have with things being the way they are." Chris smiled as Wade walked faster to catch up to Alice.

"Get away from me, freak!" Alice yelled jokingly, when Wade tried to put his arm around her shoulders. She started running, which only made Wade chase after her.

"Baby, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I just really want you to admit I'm the most wonderful guy ya know!" Wade called as he only playfully ran after her, Chris knew Wade could catch her without breaking a sweat if he really wanted to.

Wade was already catching up to her, she couldn't run top speed while laughing as loudly as she did. They turned a corner and went out of Chris and Laura's sight.

"I'm betting the next few weeks with you two, isn't going to be so bad after all." Laura spoke suddenly.

"The next few _weeks_?" Chris asked, smiling.

Laura blushed "Well, yea. Since we're all stuck in this mess, we might as well stick together."

"It would be better, Wade can't cook anything decent and I'd hate to have to rely on him for bodyheat when the temperatures drop." Chris winked and Laura's blush deepened.

"So, what was your life like, before this whole mess?" Laura asked curiously, not looking at him until she was sure she wouldn't blush again.

Chris smiled at some memory, "It was a pretty good life."

"That's it?" Laura pressed.

"Remembering the rest would mean telling you about everything and everyone I've lost." Chris stated, his smiled turned a little sad and Laura nodded. She didn't want to talk about her family yet, either.

They were still in the mall, walking down the spacious hallways with shops on either side of them. The white, tiled floor was almost spotless except for some dust that had gathered over the past few weeks of no one disturbing the mall. The doors leading into the mall was locked or blocked off, all of them except the one the guys had entered in through and it seemed like the infected hadn't discovered it yet.

Chris had a lot things running through his mind as they walked in silence." _How far away was the hotel? Would they find any weapons in the mall?" _He looked at Laura walking next to him. She had dark brunette hair, and large blue, innocent looking eyes. He was a few inches taller than her. She had a curvy body.

Chris smiled to himself as his thoughts went in a completely different direction… Stuck with your best friend AND two really attractive girls. All they need is a big mansion with high walls and this infection wouldn't be all that bad…

Wade was catching up. Alice heard his combat boots hit the floor behind her, she was getting short of breath.

She suddenly swerved left and got a bench between her and Wade. The bench was nailed into the ground, so he'd have to move around to catch her.

Wade stood on the other side, staring at her. He was smiling teasingly, clearly caught up in this game. His hair hung slightly over his left eye. Alice hadn't noticed his haircut earlier, but it came close to something Justin Bieberish, only more untidy.

"Justin Bieber's hairstyle kind of ruins your whole scary pose." She joked.

"It's not _his_ hairstyle, he stole mine. I've got the original. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Wade countered and leaned on the bench between them. Alice took a step backwards. There was a clothes shop behind her, mannequins advertised various clothing articles in the window she had her back to.

"I think it's gay." Alice joked again and stuck her tongue out to him.

Wade suddenly lunged over the bench and before Alice could react he had her pinned to the window, his hands held her hands above her head against the window, forcing their faces in close.

"I think it's not…" He was staring right into her light emerald green eyes.

It felt like time slowed down and all Alice noticed was his deep green eyes, teasing smile and warm breath on her face. Her face turned bright red and she couldn't think of anything to say.

They just stared at each other for what felt like minutes, but actually wasn't much more than five seconds.

His eyes slowly left her eyes and got stuck on something behind her, in the window.

"What are you looking at?" Alice asked softly, suddenly wishing he'd stare down into her eyes again.

"My next pair of jeans." Wade answered and let go of Alice's hands. He stepped away from her.

She felt disappointed. Weren't they just having a moment or was it just her imagination? He just seemed to suddenly lose interest…Griffin wouldn't have just pulled away like that.

Her thoughts were interrupted suddenly "What's with the face?" Wade still stood before her, his head was tilted to the side, like a dog studying something.

She smiled, he looked kind of silly.

"There's the smile again. Come on." He waited for her to step away from the window before they both walked into the store.

**And that's it for this chapter. It was longer at first, but my one friend's comment about the story sucking made me reconsider and replan AGAIN. Please be patient, I'm having trouble writing something decent that most of you will like.**


	5. Chapter 5: Open says me

**Hi all, here's chapter 5. Enjoy! **

**Chapter 5  
**

"What the frick would make someone wanna build somethin' like that?" Billy asked, spitting a thick stream of glob onto the road beside his boot.

Brice lowered the binoculars and stared at the giant next to him. Billy wasn't really a fitting name for a 7 foot 3 inches, muscled up man, but when you're that big…people don't really tease you about ANYTHING.

"Doesn't matter why they built it, what matters, is that we need whatever is still left in there."

"An' what about survivors? Michael said-"

"Screw what Michael said. If we find anyone who can't hold on their own, we leave them." Brice interrupted Billy. Brice was considered a stubborn man, in almost any situation. He had served a quick 3 years in the military, during which he had acquired an impressive physique. At 6 foot 3, with dark reddish hair and blue eyes, he could be described as a rugged children's hero. "Besides we barely have enough food to last the current survivors for 3 weeks, and that's _not_ counting the supplies Michael sends to other safe havens."

Billy hesitated. "So…we just gonna blow the entrance open?"

"I don't see why not. The infected will storm the door and if we give them an hour, they'll leave again." Brice cracked his neck and held out his hand to the teenager that had just been standing quietly watching them talk.

The teen stooped down and picked up the heavy bazooka he had been forced to carry nearly 2 miles. His arms ached, but he had learned it was better not to complain.

"Thanks, kid." Brice lifted the bazooka easily to his shoulder and smiled as he got the mall entrance in his sights…

**The mall…**

It felt like her whole world just tilted upside down. Alice felt a pair of arms move in under her and lift her off the ground. She couldn't hear anything, but felt the breath of whoever was talking to her. The person let her stand, but supported her with one arm, while the other arm covered her mouth quickly. She realised her mouth had been open, she had been screaming this whole time.

The clothes store was a mess now. The front was covered in broken glass and clothes that had fallen of the hangers. The doors were ripped of their hinges and fell inwards into the store. Sound was slowly coming back to her…

Chris spilled the coffee and Laura shrieked as she jumped aside to avoid the hot liquid.

"What the hell was that?" Chris threw the Styrofoam cups on the floor and walked out the little coffee shop he and Laura had found when they turned the corner to follow Wade and Alice.

"What about our coffee?" Laura complained as she walked out after Chris. She really wanted a cup of coffee and finding a coffee shop with a little backup generator sounded pretty close to paradise.

"Someone blew the fricken entrance open…" Chris didn't have to say it of course, Laura could very clearly feel the cold breeze coming from there. She also heard something else…

"Uhm, please tell me I'm imagining that roaring noise." Laura almost begged fearfully.

"Wade!" Chris called loudly as he started jogging towards the entrance. The roaring of the infected were getting louder now and Chris suddenly imagined having to run while they tear his friend to pieces. He'd never do that. "Wade!" He called again and looked back at Laura. He stopped walking and frowned.

She hadn't moved from the coffee shop and clutched a mini Uzi tightly in her hands. "I didn't survive this long by trusting others…" She whispered to herself, eyes wide on the entrance where the infected would be streaming in.

"Chris." Chris turned around at Wade's voice and saw Wade helping Alice out the clothing store right next to the entrance. "She's disoriented. The explosion was pretty close to…" Wade suddenly stopped and got an irritated look on his face like he just realised something that had been bothering him. "What the hell is with the entrance exploding?"

"We need to get out of here, before that horde of zombies gets here." Chris said as he took Alice from Wade. Wade drew his sword which had been strapped to his back and they hurried back to Laura.

"What's wrong with Alice?" Laura asked worried and Wade eased her arms down so she wouldn't point the Uzi at him anymore.

Chris explained. "She's a little unsteady on her feet. We need to get somewhere safe."

Before Chris could start making plans Wade's voice made a chill run down his spine. "Their coming…" He made the words sound long and creepy and only smiled when Chris glared at him.

"Put down Alice, we can probably take them in this hallway. As long as it's only one tank…" Wade swung his sword through the air a few times, testing its weight.

"Wade, it's going to be a big horde. This hallway is too wide to give us a fair chance at surviving." Despite his pessimistic words, Chris loaded his shotgun and cracked his neck.

Wade turned to Chris. "Come on, man! Look at us! We survived two weeks of this crap, without getting seriously injured. Hell we treated it like it was a school vacation! If anyone can survive this, it'll be us. If not…we had a nice ride." Wade grinned, like it was a joke and Chris couldn't help but smile also.

"Are you two insane?" Laura almost wanted to cry. "We're outnumbered and cornered and Alice isn't in a condition to fight now!"

"Just stay behind us and don't shoot me in the back, OK doll?" Chris told her, while he helped Alice sit down against the wall opposite from the blown open entrance.

Wade laughed at the "doll" nickname Chris gave Laura and waited.

"Try to get through to Alice, if you can. We could use an extra gun." Wade suggested and Laura nodded. She bent over Alice and started talking, but it was drowned out of the barbaric yell of the first infected that entered the mall and was now staring straight at the survivors.

"He looks so happy to see us." Wade commented and waved overly friendly at the infected as more and more streamed through the entrance and ran at the survivors.

**Meanwhile, outside the mall…**

Brice suddenly sat up straight, from where he had been laying on the grey roof of a small barely mentionable convenience store.

"Is that gunfire?" The teenager asked, from where he was sitting just a few feet away.

"Sounds like them infected are gonna munch on some survivors after all." Billy commented, smiling.

Brice didn't answer, he simply sat in silence and stared at the mall entrance, where infected were still streaming in.

**Back inside the mall…**

Wade impaled an infected on his sword and lifting it off the ground, he threw it at three more that was storming him. "Please form a neat and orderly line or I will be forced to resort to brutal – stay the hell away from me!" Wade yelled as a hunter pinned him to the ground.

Chris stepped closer and gave a mighty kick, which connected with the hunter's jaw and lifted him off Wade. He stepped over Wade shot the hunter before it could get back into a crouching position and pounce again.

Wade rolled onto his stomach and slashed an infected's ankle with his sword, making it fall forward onto its stomach. Wade pushed himself off the floor and decapitated the laying infected, before wildly slashing as more started crowding around him.

Chris's shotgun lifted infected off their feet, if he shot them from fairly close. He started walking backwards, towards Laura who was wildly shooting without aiming and wasting a lot of ammo on walls. He spared a moment to look at her. She was terrified.

Chris looked back at Wade, it was like the exact opposite feeling he got when he looked at Laura. Wade was smiling, a nervous smile sure, but still a smile. He cut open an infected's belly and stepped back, so other infected would slip over the guts when they came after him.

The roar of the tank brought Alice back to full consciousness and also made Wade's smile drop and Chris could feel the floor vibrate as the tank's fists connected with it angrily. The common infected was nothing compared to a tank. The easiest way to describe a tank is to compare it to Hulk, but still normal skin colour. It was massive, a terrifying 600 pounds of pure muscle and rage…

"Holy crap…" Alice had stood up and was staring at the tank in shock.

"Please, please don't let us die." Laura whispered a prayer upwards.

"Wade, I'll decoy and you get the girls to safety until I'm ready!" Chris yelled so Wade could hear him. Wade nodded and signalled the girls to follow him, back down the hallway they had originally come from.

Chris cracked his neck, before loudly yelling at the tank "Hey! Hey idiot! Over here, come get me!" The tank apparently still recognised teasing when it hears it and charged full throttle at Chris who ran into a make-up shop nearby, hoping the tank would follow…

**End of chapter 5. Hope you liked it. Please leave a review and tell me how the dialogue and fighting scenes went and if you have any advice, I'd be glad to hear it. :)**


	6. Chapter 6: Tank you

**Just quickly wanna thank FrenchFrylovesMaximumRide for being my first reviewer in MONTHS. Hope I keep his attention and maybe get some other reviewers too. Anyway, not complaining. Here is chapter 6. Enjoy!**

Chapter 6: Tank you

Chris ducked low and just barely avoided the wooden shelf that flew over his head. He fired two shotgun shots at the tank, before he slid over the counter and crouched along it, hoping the tank wouldn't be smart enough to wait for him to show his face again.

The make-up store was pretty big. It had various isles and a small lingerie section in the lower left corner, farthest away from the exit. The floor used to be a clean white tile, but the fight between Chris and the tank has left the floor covered in powders, nail polish and whatever else women would find in a decent make-up store.

Chris crept along the counter, staying low, while reloading his shotgun. For a second he thought the tank had decided to ignore him and play with the make-up, but then he heard a loud crash as the tank promptly started smashing the counter. The tank simply shifted sideways and smashed the next part of counter, closer to where Chris had frozen. Chris started crawling faster, while the tank almost playfully smashed the counter, 4 feet at a time, drawing closer to Chris.

Chris reached the end of counter cover and took a deep breath, before he stood up. The tank immediately saw him and roared, to which Chris responded with a shot of lead pellets across the tank's chest.

Chris bolted for the exit to the make-up store and jumped through the giant hole the tank came in through. The tank roared and ran through the previously still intact window next to the giant hole Chris escaped through.

Chris ran in the direction Wade and the girls ran in earlier. 'Teamwork, don't fail me now…' Chris silently prayed as he heard the tank's heavy footsteps leaving cracks in the mall's tile floor behind him. He tried guessing in what store Wade would be hiding with the girls, but since all of the stores' doors were open, Wade could've chosen any one.

Chris aimed the shotgun behind him and fired, knowing he didn't miss, judging from the irritated tank's roar.

Chris had to jump to avoid running into a bench he hadn't been paying attention to. He landed on the other side of the bench and almost had a heart attack when the bench flew past him. "Crap, that was close!" He yelled out loud to whoever was willing to listen. He hadn't realised the tank was so close. It just had to reach out and it would be able to wrap its giant hand around Chris's neck.

He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye and dropped down, doing a power slide on his knees, the tank's fist still tapped his head hard enough to throw Chris off balance and he came to a rolling stop on his back.

Chris was too dazed to move and stared at the tank lifting its giant arm to smash him into paste. 'Maybe he'll do finger painting with my bodily fluids afterwards' an almost cheerful voiced thought that made Chris smile.

As the tank was about to smash Chris, something collided with its chest from the side. 'Must've been something heavy to make him stumble like that', Chris thought, still not feeling the immediate need to sit up or try getting out of the way.

He just simply turned his head, calmly watching Wade as he stuck his katana throw the tank's kneecap and rolled out of the way of a fist that completely smashed the tiles.

The tank roared and Wade barked like a smallish dog, in a high pitched voice. Wade was smiling nervously. Chris smiled too. Wade always joked when he was afraid. The more afraid Wade got, the quicker his jokes came out.

The tank swung its arm at Wade again, but Wade stepped back just in time and moving in, he grabbed his sword and yanked it out of the tank's knee. A stream of dark blood sprayed from the stab wound and Wade's right jean leg became covered in the blood.

Wade took a bunch of steps back and cleared his throat "Is that your useless broken leg or are you just happy to see me?" The tank did not understand English, but it understood the tone of Wade's joking voice and tried running at him.

Before it had cleared 6 feet, the tank's wounded knee snapped under the weight of its muscles and bone protruded from it.

Wade obviously had been expecting this and started laughing loudly. "Come on, don't just sit there roaring! Let's have a race!" He taunted.

Chris felt something touch his chest. He turned his head expecting an infected, but instead stared into Laura's brown worried eyes.

"Chris, get up. Come on!" She took hold of his one arm and tried pulling him up into a sitting position.

Only when Chris was sitting upright did the full pain of the impact with the tank's fist hit him. He grabbed his head and groaned loudly "Damn…" He struggled to find the right words to describe the explosions in his head, so he just repeated "Damn!"

"Here take two of these." Laura handed him some painkillers and picked up his shotgun.

"Thanks." Chris was still trying to think of something to say to her when she stepped past him and walked towards Wade.

"I know! I'll get us some music and we can learn to dance!" Wade was still teasing the tank. The tank was trying to drag itself closer to Wade, but he kept slowly backing away.

Suddenly Laura stepped in next to the tank and before it could turn its head, she pressed the shotgun barrel against its temple and pulled the trigger. Zombie brains became the new decorations for a pet shop, with no animals left in it.

"Was that so damn hard?" She asked loudly. Glaring at Wade, she cocked the shotgun, letting the empty shell shoot out and land near the tank's one hand.

Wade simply stared at her, his smile was gone now;

When she realised he wasn't going to answer she turned and walked back to Chris. She kneeled down next to him where he was still sitting on the ground. He stared at her in shock.

"What? It's obvious he didn't have the guts to finish the job." She dropped Chris's shotgun over his legs and walked back into the store where Alice was waiting with all their supplies.

Wade kneeled down next to Chris as they both stared at Laura… "Dude…" They both said at the same time and smiled at each other.

**End.**

**This chapter was considerably shorter than my previous one (about 400 words) Sorry about that! I just felt this was a good place to end it. Please read and review.**


	7. Chapter 7: Isn't this nice?

**Hi everyone! So I hope you had a great Christmas and Happy new year and all that. I know this update is long overdue, but the site didn't allow me to update for a while, Im not sure whyyyy… Anyway, here's chapter 7. Enjoy and please leave a review!**

**Chapter 7**

"The shooting stopped." Billy commented as he sat staring at the mall's blown open entrance. He had a cigarette lazily hanging from his mouth.

Brice scowled. "I noticed that."

"We gonna go check it out, boss?" Billy asked again. He'd noticed Brice's irritated expression and calling Brice boss usually cheered him up again.

Brice did smile at the "boss" reference and stood up, cracking his spine. "Yep. Anyone who can survive a horde of infected and handle a tank in such close quarters is worth at least a look over."

Billy nodded and stood up. He nudged the sleeping teen with his boot in the ribs and the kid's eyes shot open instantly.

"Come on kid, we're going." Brice said and dropped the bazooka in the kid's arms again.

They walked to the back of the building they'd been sitting on and climbed down a long ladder some previous survivor must've left there. The extra ammunition lying in the corner of the roof was evidence that someone tried to hold out up there.

"A can of soda says we find bodies and a very angry tank." Billy commented, very sure of himself.

"I'll take that bet." Brice laughed.

The teenager didn't take part in the men's laughter and joking. He really didn't want to be here right now. But Brice found him cowering in a convenience store surrounded by infected and since then he just stuck with Brice. He was strict and often unfair, but at least he protected the teen.

The teen had short blond hair, dark blue eyes and he was quiet. He was rather shy, but mostly he just didn't talk unless he felt it was necessary. He wore a pair of dirty jeans and a green t-shirt with some smudges on it. The infection didn't permit much room for hygiene. He'd rather be dirty and alive, than torn apart naked in a shower somewhere.

The men weren't exactly quiet right now. Since most of the surrounding infected would've reacted to the blown open entrance to the mall, they knew they were in very little danger, as they walked towards the mall.

**Meanwhile, inside the mall…**

The painkillers had kicked in fairly quick and Chris was back on his feet, reloading his shotgun.

"What the hell was that?" Wade couldn't ignore his mind nagging him anymore.

"What?" Laura asked innocently, while smiling at him.

"You blew the tank's brains out like it was nothing!" Wade's voice got louder, like he was blaming someone for breaking his favourite toy.

"You wanna know why I did that?" Laura asked, still smiling sweetly.

"Yea! I had it under control!"

She stepped closer to him and hissed out the words "Because its fricken _sick_ to play with a living creature like that. You didn't have to let him suffer like that."

"You think he was going to show us any form of sympathy?" Wade met her gaze and stepped closer to her, forcing her to start taking steps back.

She felt scared suddenly. Wade's eyes seemed ice cold and she noticed he still had the sword in his left hand.

Chris put his hand on Wade's shoulder, which seemed to shake him out of whatever mood he was in. "Drop it, Wade. We need to get going. I don't think we're going to be able to close up that entrance."

Wade nodded and actually smiled when he saw Alice standing of to the side. She had just been watching them silently, but she still had one hand against her head. "Feeling better yet?" Wade asked.

"My head feels like it's going to explode." She complained, but managed a weak smile in return.

Laura took her bag that had been standing next to Alice and stared at Chris.

Chris noticed and took a deep breath "Alright, get everything we might need and lets head out!"

**Less than 5 minutes later…**

"Twinkle twinkle little gun. I'll find a zombie and you'll have fun!" Wade was singing softly, as they proceeded back to the blown-open entrance of the mall.

Chris was on the other side and the two girls were walking between him and Wade. Laura was walking next to Chris, since she decided she didn't feel comfortable next to Wade.

"First we'll shoot him, and then he'll scream. A bullet in the head, makes his brains cream."

"You really have a twisted mind, Wade…" Chris sighted and the girls couldn't help but laugh.

"Twisted not creamed." Wade said, mimicking a James Bond accent, which got the others laughing loudly.

"Well, this is nice!" The four survivors froze at the sound of a new voice.

Three figures were standing in the blown-open entrance. One of the figures was massive, 7 feet and held an AK47 already trained on the four survivors.

Now, if the giant man or trained gun didn't scare the survivors, then perhaps the bazooka in the smallest figure's arms is what made them hesitate.

"No, really! Go on! I find the laughter of girl's quite attractive." The middle man, not the tallest or shortest, said.

"It's kinda hard to laugh, when you've got people pointing weapons at you." Chris answered and made sure not to move his weapon, otherwise he might startle them and get shot.

"Ooh yes, of course! Where are my manners?" The man laughed. "Boys, lower 'em!"

The giant didn't hesitate to obey the man's order and the smaller figure, a teen, dropped the bazooka to the ground, looking thankful for the chance to rest his arms.

Chris's group noticeably relaxed and even managed to look friendly.  
After introducing everyone to everyone, the new bigger group of survivors stood outside, in front of the mall.

"So, where are you all heading?" Brice asked

"We heard of a safe haven nearby. Apparently it's inside a hotel." Chris spoke on behalf of his group.

"Sounds like you'll be grouping with us then. We go out and scavenge supplies for that…safe haven." Brice commented.

"Sounds like a deal."

**End of chapter 7. Tune in next chapter to get to know these 3 new characters a bit better. Also, Im really sorry for making this chapter so short. I just got stuck and decided I'd rather end it here, than write a crappy page or 2.**


	8. Chapter 8: Plan B

**Hi all! Here's the next chapter. I'd like to thank WarWolf216 , Dantalion and fantasmala for their reviews, I'll see what I can do about adding a dog :p. Anywhy, next chapter, please leave an review about anything, spelling, grammer or suggestions.**

Chapter 8: Plan B

The new infected world was no place for people who preferred to live alone. But moving in big groups wasn't the answer to survival either. See if you moved alone, you had less chance of being seen, but you were very limited in where and when you were allowed to move. In a group, you were noticed a lot easier, but at least you could still fight your way out of most situations.

The new, bigger group of survivors definitely could fight their way out of situations. Brice and Billy had each acquired military grade assault rifles and then there was, of course, the bazooka Wade had taken from the teenager earlier. These 3 weapons alone were enough to make the group feel at ease, moving through streets that had various cannibalistic pedestrians.

"And what about the things that climb on your back?" Alice asked Brice.

"We call them jockeys. Like those guys who ride horses in the races. You can't get one of them off unless someone helps you. They try steering you into a crowd of infected and then let their buddies finish you off." Brice answered and stared worried at Wade who was pointing the bazooka at everything and mumbling to himself.

"Don't worry about him." Chris said as he noticed Brice staring at Wade. "He's probably singing to himself, that bazooka won't hurt us."

"Yea Brice! He's a funny one, I like him." Billy said loudly and laughed. Wade stopped momentarily and stared at the group who was to the right and behind him now.

"Hey, how much farther is this safe haven hotel thingy place you've been talking about Brice?" Wade jumped off the car he had been standing on and waited until he was next to the group again.

"About an hour's walk if we go straight there. But we can't pass through the city centre, it's a majorly infected area. We'll need to go around." This information brought a groan from the 4 survivors who hadn't been to the haven before.

"This is going to be an extremely boring walk then." Wade commented after a few moments of silence and held the bazooka out to the teenager, who took it without showing his reluctance.

"It doesn't have to be boring. Tell us about yourself Wade." Billy suggested.

"Hi everybody. I'm Wade." Wade took a dramatically deep breath "And I'm addicted to drugs, alcohol, various candies and myself."

"Wade is a joker." Chris cut in when he noticed Wade take another breath. "He has trouble taking things seriously."

"That's why I have you Chris, you can do the serious side of our survival." Wade stared at Alice for a serious moment "And the women will cook and clean our clothes."

"You can go to hell!" Laura laughed and Alice just laughed along with the others.

"Why not? That's the only reason me and Chris are even allowing you to come with us."

"He's lying!" Chris quickly defended himself as Laura slapped him on his arm jokingly.

"Hey, quiet down!" Brice's sudden serious voice cut the others' laughter short. "Do you want every infected in the area on our backs?" He focused his glare primarily on Wade.

"The more the merrier?" Wade offered, smirking at Brice's glare.

Brice got deadly serious "You'll change your way of thought once the sun sets and we need to manoeuvre past infected groups…"

"You can't seriously be saying we'll be outside when the sun sets?" Alice asked alarmed.

Brice smiled "There's no other safe houses on the way to the safe haven. We'll need to move at night for about another hour. If the town centre was cleared we wouldn't need to take the long way around."

"Why don't we clear it?" Chris asked.

"Infected are attracted to something there. We cant just clear it, they come back. At best we could hope to fight our way through but…Ok, I'll show you when we get there and you'll realise why we need to go around." Brice said and the group moved on in silence.

It took them about 15 minutes to reach a point where Brice stopped them. "This is where we turn off to the left." Brice said softly and the reason for his whispering was obvious. Less than 300 meters away there was an abnormally large crowd of infected.

"I'm starting to see why we can't go through them…" Chris admitted a little awestruck.

"Can't we move through the buildings along the street?" Laura suggested hopefully.

"Nah, the buildings are full of special infected. Hunters and spitters mostly." Billy said and spat a thick stream of phlegm onto the road, which made the teenager jump back in disgust.

"Our best bet is to move around." Brice declared again.

"There's always plan B…" Wade said, who had been staring amused at the large crowd of infected.

"What's plan B?" Brice asked, but he already knew the answer as Wade playfully jumped onto a car and lifted the bazooka to his shoulder.

**Sorry, I know these chapters have been kinda short lately, but it helps me update more than once every 3 months. I will write longer chapters when the drama or action gets more intense, kay? Anyway please review. Tell what you all think :)**


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